Going Natural

Growing up my parents encouraged healthy eating and living habits.  We didn't have a television until I was 7 or 8, we ate things like bulgar wheat burgers and whole wheat donuts and my mother practiced yoga. Throughout my teen years, I completely rebelled against that life style.  I would spend my money on bad chinese take-out and pizza.  As a young adult, thankfully I never fell into the Ramen noodle pit, but I was barely a step above! Its funny how things always go full circle, because now I am trying to have as many healthy and natural foods, gardening, cleaning and beauty/hygiene supplies as possible.

I decided to make these changes for a variety of reasons.  First, my son has really bad seasonal allergies and asthma. He has a reaction (itchy throat and ears) whenever he eats certain fruits and vegetables like apples, pears, carrots, celery, kiwi, etc., unless they are cooked.  As you can imagine our produce bill is ridiculous in the winter.  Since many of the other fruits fall on the Dirty Dozen, I am trying to buy organic.  I feel like everything is so contaminated and is a cause of a lot of the ailments that we have.  In addition, I think that in our attempts at trying to get germ free and have convenience, we are killing off some of the things that are helpful to our bodies.  Things like bees, which hurt when they sting, but also make honey, which has good vitamins and minerals and helps in building immunities through its anti-oxident properties.  We are destroying good bacteria and creating a lot of free-radicals which are recking havoc in our bodies.  There appears to be an increase in the number of cases of cancer, adhd/autism, heart disease and neurological problems, like Parkinsons.   I am not saying that going natural will completely eliminate these things but I do believe that it helps in decreasing the numbers and the severity.

This is a large undertaking for me, so I am doing it in baby steps.  I think lifestyle changes are better absorbed and become a part of your routine when you gradually make changes instead of eliminating everything at one time.  So instead, each time I run out of a product, be it food, cleaning or hygiene/beauty product, I am replacing it with its natural counterpart.  Since we will be trying out new products I thought it would be cool to do a review after.

To start things off, we tried out Jason Pure Natural Deodorant Stick  in Soothing Aloe Vera.

It costs around $5.99.  The smell was pleasant and fresh.  It felt wet when it was applied but I fanned it and went about my day.  Shortly after I noticed that I felt sticky or tacky is probably a better descriptive.  It felt like I had glue in my armpits!  Within 3 hours I didn't feel so fresh.  I tried it for a few more days and had the same results, so needless to say, I am back to using Dove until I find something better. There are a few more that I want to try and also some DIY's I've heard about, so I will keep you posted.

Do you or have you tried natural deodorant before and if so, did it work?  Which brand?